Displaying items by tag: GCW221

We report on development from Japan this week with the creation of a low-alkali cement for use at nuclear waste sites. Professor Katsuyoshi Kondo, Joining and Welding Research Institute at Osaka University, and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Cement Co have prepared a process that mixes silica dioxide extracted from rice chaff with cement.

As press reports explain, the team has developed technology to extract highly purified silica with numerous holes measuring 5 – 7nm in diameter by washing rice chaff with organic acid and burning it. The surface area of the silica extracted from rice chaff is 50,000 - 90,000 times larger than that contained in existing cements, enhancing the reaction between silica and calcium hydroxide and thus lowering the alkaline level.

The stated application for this new research is for underground nuclear waste disposal sites. At these locations extremely high durability is required for long periods of time, potentially for tens of thousands of years.

Normally the concern with alkali-silica reactivity is between alkali in the cement and a sensitive aggregate over a shorter time period. Under high moisture and high alkali content the resulting concrete can crack leading to reduced-performance. However, the issue with nuclear waste storage is that it has to be stored underground and for long periods of time. This means that the cement can potentially react with groundwater producing calcium hydroxide making the groundwater alkaline. This can then react with aggregates in the clay and bedrock at the storage site. Clearly this is undesirable for a long-term storage site of hazardous materials.

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, this kind of development will be of high interest in Japan. It will also have applications around the world wherever radioactive waste sites are built.

One example of the demanding construction conditions facing builders in these environments is the original sarcophagus used to encase the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant reactor in 1986. Building it used more than 7,000t of steel and 410,000m³ of concrete. Erected in a hurry under horrendous conditions, the container was never sealed properly and the structure was only given a design lifespan of 20 to 30 years. Currently a replacement, New Safe Confinement, is being built at a projected cost of Euro2bn for completion in 2017. The structure will be up to 100m tall and 165m long with a lifetime of at least 100 years.

One of the issues raised in the documentary film 'Into Eternity' is what exactly should one daub on the entrance to a long-term waste dump? Given that the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository in Finland is planning to stay sealed for 100,000 years, how should its planners communicate to people, who potentially rediscover it in the future, that they should stay away? One suggestion quoted here is to put Edvard Munch's The Scream on the door. However, we have difficulty today in reading and interpreting Ancient Egyptian writing and art from 5000 years ago. What this means for any of our descendants unlucky enough to stumble upon a buried nuclear waste site is anyone's guess. At the very least though using a low-alkali cement that will last as long as possible is a good start.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has appointed two new Regional Chief Executive Officers (RCEOs). Arvind Pathak has been appointed as the new regional Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Vivek Chawla will serve as the new Regional CEO for West and Central Africa. Chawla was appointed on 17 August 2015.

Chawla has over 30 years of experience working in the cement industry. Previous to working for Dangote he was the President of Hindalco Industries, part of the Aditya Birla Group. Chawla also worked as Chief Executive Officer, East Region of ACC Limited.

Vietnam: Consumption of cement in Vietnam between 1 January 2015 to 30 September 2015 rose by 3% year-on-year to 52.1Mt compared to the same period of 2014, according to the Ministry of Construction. The ministry's Building Material Department said 40.3Mt of cement were sold on the domestic market, a year-on-year increase of 8%, while export volumes fell by 12% to 11.9Mt.

Despite the rise in the first nine months, cement consumption in September 2015 fell by 9% to 5.4Mt. 4.3Mt went to the domestic market, 11% less than in August 2015. The reduction in total consumption volume of cement in September 2015 was stated to be due to the impact of the rains and the 'ghost month' when people often avoid starting construction projects.

Experts expect cement consumption on the domestic market to be better by the year-end when the construction season begins. However, the cement industry will find it difficult to export cement by the year-end because other cement exporters in the region are set to increase their volumes.

Le Van Toi, Head of the Building Material Department, said that the enterprises should promote domestic consumption of cement and then improve competitive ability of cement products for exports.

Pakistan: Listed cement producers in Pakistan continued to deliver double digit profitability growth in the 2015 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2015. Their collective profits grew by 13% year-on-year to US$446m, with the improvement in profits caused by volume growth and lower energy costs.

Local cement demand remained strong, rising by 8.2% to 28.3Mt. This was due to higher public and private sector. The growth in profits was also supported by declining financial charges and falling selling and distribution expenses.

However, not all results were encouraging. Exports fell by 11.7% year-on-year to 7.2Mt due to weak demand from the Afghan market coupled with anti-dumping duty imposed by South Africa on Pakistani cement manufacturers.

Total industry dispatches are expected to grow by 8.8% to 38.6Mt in the fiscal year to 30 June 2016, primarily due to strong local demand expected from higher infrastructure spending and mega-projects including the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Analysts expect that manufacturing costs for the coming fiscal year will remain 'benign' for the industry and will be led by lower energy costs. Lower electricity charges and shift to more efficient sources like waste heat recovery will lead to further decrease in power and fuel costs for manufacturers. Moreover, imported coal prices are expected to remain at lower levels, owing to slowdown in China's growth, which will further drive up margins of cement manufacturers.

Dominican Republic/Haiti: Cementos Andino, based in the Dominican Republic, has reported that it will register extra costs of US$44,189/month due to a Haitian ban on cement entering the country overland. Nelson Bello, president of Cementos Andino, explained that maritime transport will increase costs, due to unloading and handling services at ports, among other activities.

Cementos Andino exported 458,818t of cement between 2006 and August 2015, generating US$48.4m. Panama and Haiti were the main destinations.

Poland: Cement production in Poland increased by 1.3% year-on-year to to 1.58Mt in September 2015, while sales edged up by 0.1% to 1.66Mt, according to Poland's Cement Producer Association. In the first nine months of 2015, production grew by 1.4% year-on-year to 11.9Mt and sales were up by 1.8% to 12.2Mt.

Nigeria: An affiliate of Lafarge Africa, Nigerian Cement Holdings (NCH), has completed a 100% acquisition of Nigeria's third-largest cement manufacturer United Cement Company of Nigeria (UNICEM). Lafarge did not disclose the purchase price. NCH owned 70% equity in UNICEM before agreeing to the deal in November 2014 to buy the remaining 30% from Flour Mills. UNICEM cement plant in Cross River has a production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr and is undergoing an expansion to 5Mt/yr, to be completed in 2016.

US/UK: Hanson Building Products has changed its name to Forterra following its recent divestment by HeidelbergCement. The rebranding brings with it a new logo to the established business, which has a trading history spanning back several decades, while its wide selection of products and services will be unchanged.

The company, which operates in North America and the UK, makes a diverse range of concrete and clay building products. Structherm, the subsidiary that specialises in external wall insulation, is unaffected by the rebranding. Forterra employs approximately 5000 people, 1600 of whom work in the UK in 18 manufacturing facilities and its new Northampton based head office.

"The Hanson name and logo may have been replaced by Forterra, but this is a change of branding only," said Stephen Harrison, UK managing director of Forterra. "We remain committed to the excellence and integrity recognised by our customers and the construction industry in general and we want to use this rebranding to reinforce our values. We will continue to be a leading building products manufacturer in the UK and a key player within the construction industry. As Forterra, our business enters an exciting new era."

The new name is effective immediately and will be implemented across the company's products, services and communications over the coming months. Company emails and web addresses will also change to reflect the Forterra name. The changes only apply to Hanson Building Products, while Hanson Cement, Hanson Quarry Products and Hanson Contracting will all continue to be part of Hanson UK, which remains within the HeidelbergCement Group. There will be no ongoing connection between Hanson UK and Forterra.

Belarus: The Belarusian civil engineering company ZAO Belzarubezhstroy has opened a cement-bonded particleboard plant in Krichev, Mogilev on 5 October 2015. Austria's VST Building Technologies was a partner of Belzarubezhstroy and an investor in the project.

The new plant uses the premises of the former Krichev meatpacking factory and is located 7km from the Krichev cement mill, where its cement is sourced. Imported equipment was installed. The plant will make cement-bonded particleboards using the process flows developed by VST Building Technologies. The new technology boasts high speed and quality of construction processes, energy-effectiveness and wide geographical deployment.

The Belarusian Architecture and Construction minister Anatoly Cherny stressed that the opening of the plant represents a truly ground-breaking event for the civil engineering industry of the oblast and the country. "With cement-bonded particleboards of our own, we will be able to greatly reduce the cost of residential housing construction. We will be able to build more homes and export more construction materials," said Cherny.

The plant's construction was prompted by the rapid pace of housing and industrial construction in Belarus, as well as the need to find new ways to modernise the civil engineering industry and reduce costs. Belarus has had to import cement-bonded particleboard to make the panels until now. In addition to serving the local market, over 25% of the cement-bonded particleboard produced will be exported to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the European Union (EU). The plant's proximity to the Belarusian-Russian border and the two rail lines going in the eastern direction will minimise the costs of exports to Russia.

Belzarubezhstroy director general Vitaly Bondarik said that the project was a historical one for the company. "We hope that the site will become kind of a springboard for advancing joint operations and implementing new construction projects in Belarus and abroad together with our partner, VST Building Technologies AG. We expect a successful future and intend to implement a number of joint projects in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Algeria and other countries. The enterprise should become a successful example of a new construction formation in Belarus," said Bondarik.

Belzarubezhstroy used its own resources and foreign investments to build the plant. It will create 200 jobs to reach the designed output capacity of 60,000m3/yr. In the future, the output capacity may be increased up to 100,000m3/yr.

The new plant is the first step of the programme sketched out by the Belarusian and Austrian partners.

Egypt: Lafarge Egypt's total investments in the local cement market will hit US$3.2bn at the end of 2015, according to CEO Hussein Mansi.

Mansi said that Lafarge Egypt intends to expand in the local market with US$16.8m of new investments in a recycling project. The project is expected to start within six months of the required land being supplied by the government. In the near future, Lafarge Egypt will supply national projects currently being executed by the government such as the New Administrative Capital project and New Suez Canal projects.

Mansi said that Lafarge Egypt plans to increase its current market share, which is currently estimated at 14%.